The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1887-01-20

Th0mnS Stevens Travels Far, and Sees
MnmN StrMmEr Scrncs md pconIe.

Th"mnS Stevens Travels Far, and Sees
Many Strange Scenes and People.
The world has been girdled by q
bicycle. An American has brought a
new Arabian Nights tale to tho city of
linrOun Al Ruschid, and fresh wonder
| story to the nursery books. \ young
man from the little village of Turney,
Mo, MIR. Thomas Stevens, started from
San ErancltcO at s o'clock on the morn
ing of April %, 1854, to go around the
world on his bicycle. lie has Just arrived
III San francisco, after spinning about
the WhirIjng globe for two years and
eight months. He went us special dele
date to all nations of the prosperous
magazine, Outing.
Mr.. Stevens wheeled across the Sicrras
through snow sheds, tunnels, cnnons,
along prccipicCs and around mountains
where he heard the roaring Of the snow
slides and found the peaks covered with
thirty feet of snow, Then over the
desert of Nevada, with it's miragcs, where
no birds were visible and little shining
lizards wore the only living things; now
calling on tho Piutcs, now aiming u shot at
Il mountain lion, ,hcn riding by the clear
moonlight through the Eockicg; next
crossing Utah, swimming in the Salt
Lake, chatting with pretty Mormon
maiden, riding past the cnstcllatcd rocks
Of Green River, and slowly crossing the
red desert. Then going through Ne
braSkn and Iowa, past communistic
community Of GOO happy people, with
30, 900 acres Of rich land, with towns
and factori"s So on through Illinois,
Indiana, Ohio, Northern Pennsylvania,
New York and Massachusetts. AT .
o'clock i'll the afternoon of August ( he
caught sight Of the spires Of Boston. He
had crossed the continent in 1035 days
and had travelled 3, 700 miles.
Mr.. Stevens rested in New York dur
ing tho winter, and i'll tho spring of
1880 sailed, with his bicycle, for Liver
pool to take up tho thread of travel that
he was going to tic about the world. He
&nltrd on the City of Chicago with two
slips Of hicyrlrr'# lmpcr-onr 10 paste on
the Chinv@N wall and one on the cliffs of
thc Nyhccr Pass.
On May =, 1850, he started from Edgc
Hill Church, Liverpool, to wheel across
tine vast continents of Europe and Asia.
He wheeled BOO miles to London, meet
ing ut Il bicycle tournament on the way
Alrlor Knox Holmes, who had recently
taken spin Of III miles in ten hours.
Crossing to Di"ppc on II Channel steam
Cr he wheeled through Normandy, down
the valley of t,,o Seine, passed noble
chNtcauS amt ruins, till, on May 13, he
saw the Arch OF Triumph and entered
PARIS; then ny vineyards down the val
irys OF tine Muiuc and MuSullc to Nancy,
and through Grrmun Lorraine to Stras-
burg, through the Black Forest TO
M(mirh, where he tipped student Of
tho university under The impression that
hn was Il waiter. Through Austria,
where i.u llrt II nam who spoke English,
hut had never before met anyone else
who spoke that tongue; through Hun
gary, where rows of women were work
ing in the fields uudcr ovcrsccrs like
blacks in the South in the DAYS of
slavery; through Scrvia and Bulgaria,
and through Turkey, where the Turks
were delighted with his bicycle, and n
pnshn had Turk play "Yunlicc Doodle"
ON harp for him. lie arrived in Con-
July >, 1885, two months
after leaving Liverpool.
Pushing on through .ksintic Turkey
and Persia, tll" piucky american arrived
at Trh"ran i'll November 1885, when the |
winter came and he had to stop till
spring in the Turkish capital. He then
started to go through southern Siberia
and northern Chiun. The Russiuns re-
fused him passports. He tried to go
through Aighnnistan. Tho Russians
He started to go anyhow.
The Hu@hinmS stopped him. He wheeled
back to ConStuntlnoplc, took IL trip to
Calcutta, and rode through India and
southern China. tie rode through |
China last fall. Mobs Of supcrstitious
Cinnamon mobbcd him us the devil on
wheels, and he reached Shanghai sur
roumdcd by u Chinese military escort.
Then he took Il spin across japan and
Imd finished hiS journey. He sailed from
Tokin To San Francisco. lie Travelled |
about 10000 miles on his bicycle, which
IS an ordinary road machine.